Pilot Evaluation of Brief Training in CBT for Primary Care Practitioners

Abstract

Mental health work is now core to primary care practice, and CBT shows promise as a guiding approach. However, dissemination to primary care practitioners has not yet been demonstrated. A training intervention (a brief CPD workshop of 3-4 hours) plus four case discussion groups lasting 1.5 hours each, plus manual, was evaluated with a convenience sample of N = 25 primary care practitioners. Five adapted self-report questionnaires measured their reactions, learning, and transfer, within a pre-post research design. The participants regarded the training and materials as acceptable. Their performance on declarative and procedural quizzes improved significantly by the post-test, as did their reported transfer of CBT to their primary care work. These positive findings indicate that the training package may be able to produce transferable impacts on primary care practitioners' use of CBT. But the reliance on self-report and the simple design preclude definitive conclusions. Suggestions for an improved research design are offered, together with suggestions on dissemination. ReferencesBarkham, M., Shapiro, D. A., Hardy, G. E. and Rees, A. (1999). Psychotherapy in two plus one sessions: outcomes of a randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for subsyndromal depression.

What Did They Learn? Effects of a Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Workshop on Community Therapists’ Knowledge

“…This study replicates previous research showing that a one-day CBT workshop results in CBT knowledge gain among CMHC therapists (Maunder et al, 2008; Myles & Milne, 2004; Sholomskas et al, 2005). Although the majority of therapists reported prior exposure to CBT, average declarative CBT knowledge scores were quite low at baseline.…”

“…However, few knowledge tests have been developed to evaluate declarative knowledge gain. One existing CBT knowledge test developed by Myles & Milne (2004) has demonstrated sensitivity to change in CBT knowledge pre and post training among primary care practitioners and in other treatment settings (Maunder, Milne, & Cameron, 2008). This particular knowledge test allows evaluation of declarative knowledge; however, procedural and reflective knowledge are thought to require procedures such as behavioral rehearsal (Beidas, Cross, & Dorsey, 2014), role-plays, or reflective practice exercises (Bennett-Levy et al, 2009) for accurate evaluation.…”

Developing cognitive behaviour therapy training in India: Using the Kolb learning cycle to address challenges in applying transcultural models of mental health and mental health training

“…All participants in the 5-day programme completed the MPQ-PC Declarative Knowledge Questionnaire and the PCQ-PC Procedural Knowledge Questionnaire (Maunder et al, 2008). The results are compared to those obtained by Primary Care Mental health workers following a shorter training programme in Maunder et al ' s paper.…”

“…In addition to this, participants in the 5-day workshop completed questionnaires developed by Maunder et al (2008), developed from Myles and Milne (2004). These tests, the MPQ-PC Declarative Knowledge Questionnaire and the PCQ-PC Procedural Knowledge Questionnaire are based on measuring understanding core principles of CBT (MPQ-PC) and clinical application of this knowledge (PCQ-PC) and were marked blind by one of the authors (A.B.).…”

Transporting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) project to Japan: preliminary observations and service evaluation in Chiba

“…Thus, other measures could also be employed to gain a better understanding of the ways training should be provided. Comparing scores on the cognitive therapy awareness scale (Sudak et al, 2003) -a multiple-choice questionnaire (Maunder et al, 2008;Myles and Milne, 2004) -between pre-and post-training would reveal how competent trainees felt as they progressed through training. A video assessment task (Myles and Milne, 2004) would provide a more objective perspective of the trainee competence.…”